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Charter of David son of Lewelin, Prince of North Wales. David son of Lewelin, Prince of North Wales, to all the sons of Holy Mother Church, present as well as to come, in Christ, Greeting: Know all that I, David son of Lewelin, for the love of God and for the health of my soul, and for the souls of my father the Lord Lewelin, and of my mother the Lady Joanne, and for the souls of all my heirs, do grant, and by the present Charter do confirm, to God and St. Mary and the Monastery of Basingwerk, and to the monks serving God therein, for a pure and perpetual eleemosynary gift, all the gifts and liberties which my father the Lord Lewelin, and others my predecessors conferred on the above Monastery for the sake of their souls: to be possessed for ever, and to be held free and quit of all land service and secular exaction, as much as any eleemosynary gift can be freely and fully possessed; together with all their appurtenances; of which it pleases us to express certain things and to name them in this present writing: That is to say, that place in which their Abbey is founded, together with the mills which they have near the Abbey gate. The land which lies before their doors, which Ranulph and his brother Eneas gave to the aforesaid Monks. Also the land which Meredit Wawor held within and without the town of Haliwell, and all the land which Huttred his brother exchanged with him in the town itself for his own share of land in Quitford; and their Grange which is called Feilebroc, with all its appurtenances and easements, and the common right of mountain pasture with others. The Church also of Haliwelle with the Chapel of Colsul, and with all its appurtenances, that they may hold them to be possessed in entirety for their own uses for ever. The land also and the pastures of Gethli which they have by the donation of my father, with all its appurtenances and easements, by the marks and divisions which are more fully contained in the charter which they have thereof. I have moreover declared for them a perpetual freedom from toll of all my land possessed or to be possessed, and of sea possessed or to be possessed, in selling and buying all things for the use of those who serve God in that place. Moreover I have granted and confirmed to them two parts of the tithe of fish which are taken in the fish-stews of Rothelan, with that tithe of my share of fish which men take in water. Also by the gift of Howen de Porkenton1, all Wenhewm, with all the men of the same township and with their appurtenances. A confirmation also to Helysus upon the same donation. By the donation of the Lord Lewelin my father the lands and pastures of Penthlin, by measures and divisions which are named in my father's charter, which they hold of it. And I David and my heirs will warrant all these aforesaid tenements to these Monks against all men for ever; wherefore, in order that this my concession and confirmation may remain stable and unshaken, I have corroborated the present writing by the apposition of my seal. These being witnesses:

Hugo bishop of St. Asaph: Edeneweth Vakan: Master David, then 1 Owain Brogyntyn.

Chancellor Evin Vakan: Wronon son of Kenwrit; Heylin son of Kenrith Philip son of Ywor: Madoc Purewen: Wronon son of Seisel and many others.

Given at Coleshull A.D. M.CC.XL. on the day of St. James the Apostle, &c.

In 1286 there was a law suit between the abbots of Chester and Basingwerk, touching the advowson of the church of West Kirby. Documents relating to this subject are preserved among the Harleian collection of MSS. — viz. 139, fol. 226, and 2072, fol. 18.1

During the preparations for the conquest of Wales by Edward I., the abbey was under the protection of the English. There are extant two orders for the purpose, providing that the inmates should have no intercourse with what are styled the Welsh rebels. And there are among the lists of summons in the Tower, writs for calling the abbot to parliament in the 23rd, 24th, 28th, 32nd, and 34th of Edward 1.2

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Edward also granted or confirmed the tract of land called Gelli, with its wood, to the abbot and convent, on the 10th of November, at Westminster, before the death of our last Prince. He also gave him power to grub up the wood, which by the present nakedness of the place, observes Pennant, seems to have been done effectually.*

In his reign Reginald de Grey, justice of Chester, took away the lands of the men of Merton, to the amount of sixteen plough lands, and bestowed them on the monastery. The nobles of Tegengl, in a petition which they addressed to

1 Vide Bishop Gastrell's Notititia Cestriensis, vol. i. p. 179. It is here stated that the result of the lawsuit was that the monks gave up the advowson (which they claimed as belonging to the manor of Calder or Caldey) after their objections had been overruled, to the abbot of St. Werburgh's at Chester, (who claimed in right of purchase,) in consideration of a palfrey and nine marks. This interesting work has just been published by the Chetham Society, with a large body of very curious and valuable notes by the learned editor, the Rev. F. R. Raines, F.S.A. Lysons, in his Cheshire, states that Randle Blundeville dispossessed the monks of Basingwerk not only of this advowson, but also of the manor of Caldey and other estates.

Pennant, i. 36. This is one of the proofs that the Cistercian order held this abbey before the fourteenth century; and that they were not templars; for the latter order had no abbots. See also the taxation of Pope Nicholas V., A.D. 1291.

Near this tract is an ancient chapel, which is supposed to have belonged to the abbot, who had also a house at no great distance, in a township still called "Tre'r Abad," or the Abbot's abode.-Ib. 19.

4 Ib. p. 20.

the archbishop of Canterbury, complain of this act as having been done against the laws of Wales and the custom of the country, and contrary to the form of the peace which was established between the king and Prince Llewelyn.1

the archbishop of Canterbury, complain of this act as having According to the charters and rolls quoted by Tanner, the abbey seems to have been possessed at one time or another of the following property, not specified in the Valor Ecclesiasticus, viz. Tithes at Blakbrok; a wood at Langdon; a silver mine at Basingwerk; lands at Chatsworth, Simmondsbury, Chauclesworth, and the manor of Chissuworth; a market and fair at Chenelsworth, com. Derb.; and the quantity of land held at Glossop is there stated to be 280 acres.

In the 29th year of Henry II., according to Madox, Baron. Anglic. p. 72, 73, Gilbert Pipard yielded to the king an account of the honor of the Earl of Chester, in which occurs the following item: "Et in Elemosina constituta monachis de Bassignewerc Cs." and another item which may seem to have reference to part of the property of this abbey: "Et ad perficiendum instauramentum de Lec, pro xxxii vaccis iiii1 et xvis per breve Regis." See Valor Ecclesiasticus.

According to Pope Nicholas's taxation,2 A.D. 1291, the abbot was found to have

IN THE DIOCESE OF LICHFIELD and Coventry, and ARCHDEACONRY OF CHESTER.

At Caldeye in the Deanery of Wyrhale, five ploughlands, each

of the yearly value of 138.

From the profits of stock per ann.

£ s. d.

2 0 0

At Wyrhale, called Neubolt, one ploughland, per ann.
At the same place, from the profits of stock per ann...
At Weston, one ploughland, per ann...

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At the same place, from the profits of stock per ann...

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At Lyre, in the Deanery of Chester, two ploughlands, each of
the yearly value of 158.

At the same place, from the profits of stock per ann..
At the same place, from pleas and perquisites per ann..
In the town of Chester, from fixed rents

In Wyc, from fixed rents

At Layrton, in the Deanery of Wyrhale, from fixed rents
At Neweton, in the same Deanery, from fixed rents........

Total 3.........£14 17 8

1 Powell, 360.

2 See Willis's St. Asaph, ed. Edwards, Appendix, No. xxiii. 3 This sum requires two items to be worked out, in full, víz. for Caldeye and Lyre.

IN THE DIOCESE OF LICHFIELD AND COVENTRY, ARCHDEACONRY
OF SALOP.

At Glossop, in the Deanery of High Peak, one ploughland, of

the yearly value of

At the same place, from fixed rents per ann...

At the same place, one mill of the yearly value of..
From the profits of stock per ann.

From the sale of wood per ann.

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IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. ASAPH.

At Basyng, three mills......

In the town of Holywell, rent with mills

The grange of Baggeburch, with two ploughlands..

The grange of Fulbrook with upper grange, seven ploughlands,

and other conveniences

The grange of Kellyng with Penllyn, four ploughlands and a half, with rents and other conveniences.

Fifty-three cows: returns

Two thousand sheep: returns, saving the tending....

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Total.........£46 11 0

The whole of this establishment together thus amounted to 3 ...£68 8 0

Pope Martin V., A.D. 1417-1431, furnished the abbey of Basingwerk with pardons and indulgences, to sell to the pilgrims who should visit the holy fountain of St. Winefred. *

In Richard the Third's time, the abbot and convent had from the crown ten marks annually for the maintenance and salary of a priest at the chapel of St. Winefred, which was erected over the well. 5

About that time the institution was presided over by Thomas ab Davydd Pennant, a man of great generosity and kindness, as appears from some verses, which were written in honour of him by Guttyn Owain, Tudur Aled, and Thomas ab Rhys ab Howel, eminent bards of the day. The former, whose poem is printed in Rice Jones's

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1 In the grant to the abbey of Basingwerk, of the lands in the Peak of Derbyshire, there is a clause, reserving the venison to the king, with the consent of the abbot and convent; for the preservation of which two foresters were appointed by the king; but the grantees were allowed to kill hares, foxes, and wolves.-Sebright MSS. Pennant, i. 39.

2 This sum is incorrect by £1 108. 3 Incorrect by excess of £1 10s.

Notes on Michael Drayton, 289. of the two latter are amongst the

5 Harleian MSS., No. 433, 338. Sebright collection of MSS.

4 Selden's 6 The poems

66

Gorchestion y Beirdd," compliments his patron upon his honourable lineage, which he derives from Edwin, and Rhys Sais, a direct descendant from Tudor Trevor. He then gives a general description of the abbatial buildings and mills, and concludes with a high eulogium on Thomas's hospitality:"It is a part of heaven. - he is the Sovereign of our language: Excellent are the buildings- the houses of the district, Of faultless freestones - abundant are the materials:

And native oaks in an extensive park.

Houses of delicious wine. -the temple of the saints
Houses of t he choir — a house for the convent:

A good house for the corn on the other side.

There is a malt house and it has a brick house.
There is a stone wall by Cilgwri,

And upon it a gate house.

Upon a rampart-where a load of gold might be obtained,
Was a narrow fortress shutting in the monks.

With mills has he filled

Every available glen and hill.

Generous God! · wherever his lot falls

There the work of water and wind is not in vain.

Gold has been bestowed upon the fabric,

On the land of God, like the leaves in number,

Should the gold of a king have been there contributed,

He has given twice as much in wine.

Goods and victuals without number,

He daily gives to all the world."

But it was not in empty song that Guttyn Owain acknowledged the generosity of the abbot; he moreover compiled, or transcribed, for the use of the monastery a History of Britain. This work, which goes by the name of “ Llyfr Basing," or the Book of Basingwerk, is written upon vellum, and is now in the possession of T. T. Griffiths, Esq., of Wrexham.1

Thomas ab Davydd Pennant quitted his profession, and became what is termed in law, a monk deraigne; and married Angharad, daughter of Gwillim ab Gruffydd ab Gwillim, of the house of Penrhyn, in Caernarvonshire.

He was succeeded in the abbacy by his youngest son

1 Angharad Llwyd, in her catalogue of Welsh MSS. describes this book as containing "Caradoc of Llancarvan; Dares Phrygius, or the Destruction of Troy, from p. 1 to 40, inclusive; Galfridus, from p. 41 to 198, but in many places very different from the printed copy; a pretty exact Chronology, from p. 199 to the end, but very different from Caradoc of Llancarvan, and the Clera, as published by Dr. Powel."

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